Cameco JV Will Mine Kyrgyz Gold

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday approved a $270 million gold-mining deal with Canada's Cameco Corp., the biggest foreign-investment project in the Central Asian state.President Askar Akayev ordered Cameco to be allowed to form a joint venture to mine the eastern Kumtor deposit, official newspapers quoted a presidential decree as saying.The open-pit mine is expected to yield 500,000 troy ounces of gold annually over a projected 11-year life. The joint venture, the Kumtor Gold Company, is owned two-thirds by the state-owned Kyrgyz Altan Co. and one-third by Cameco.Akayev's decree, published in the official Slovo Kyrgyzstana newspaper, ordered government concessions for the deal and gave Cameco and the Kumtor Gold one month to finalize financing.Kyrgyzstan "is to provide Cameco Corp. with all necessities to start exploitation of the mine by 1997," said the decree.A Cameco representative confirmed by telephone from the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek that the deal had been signed at Bishkek's international airport before Akayev left on a trip to Brussels.Details on financing were not immediately available.The signing follows months of public wrangles between Cameco and the government over tax breaks, funding and other problems.Cameco had hoped to sign the joint-venture deal on March 30, but government officials delayed the decision.